Family trip to Fairytale Farm, Oxfordshire

http://www.fairytalefarm.co.uk

 This weekend my parents, one of my brothers and niece came to visit me and we decided to go on a little family trip to Fairytale Farm near Chipping Nortan. Hubby decided that he would rather go and see his beloved Wycombe Wanderers play against Oxford United instead!! Bet he regrets that now after the 3-0 loss😢😢

My niece loves going to farms but is only two and has a very short attention span as most of my readers can appreciate so I had been told its perfect to visit for a few hours. My friend who's a childminder in Oxfordshire had told me it wasn't fantastic as a family attraction but little ones like it and good for a couple of hours.  This would also be a good opportunity to research places for small children to go for my blog.

So we set off for some family time.

My opinion/thoughts?
When we got inside my initial opinion was the place looked abit tired and run down and it wasn't clear where the animals were.  As you walk in there is a sandpit which in typical child form she was straight in there and that seemed reasonably clean.  There also was a play area with a decent amount of toys for babies and small children near the café/seated area which I think is good as a respite place for adults as the children can play whilst you can have a coffee/something to eat.


Favourite parts by my niece?
She loved the stupid music part in the sensory garden where she got to shake a maraca.  Typically she kept pressing the button not sure if this was to see her Auntie and Grandma do some stupid dancing or because she liked it.
She also liked the adventure playground area which had a few suitable things for her age including a wooden castle with a slide and a tractor to sit in.

What is there to do?

Sensory garden 

playground area

petting area

farm animals

mice house

rubber duck water race

How much???
Free for under threes, £5.50 per adult, £5.20 3-16 yrs

Value for money??
Suppose it is I don't think they charge more than the place is worth and my niece seemed to enjoy herself.

What did I enjoy?
Racing rubber ducks along the water funnel with my dad and brother! My dad lost claiming his one was malfunctioned, yeah right dad!

Facilities/place to eat?
If I'm honest the Toliet facilities are not great and I would not want to change a small child in there. There is a cafe that does some cold and hot food and very reasonable price wise. To feed four adults and a drink each was only £14.95. I had lasagne and salad which was okay but can't complain.

Would I visit again?
Probably not in the meantime but they were adding in new sections to the farm so maybe one day in the future. I think my friend was right in what she said it's not the best family attraction but ideal to waste a few hours.

Heres a photo of me and my gorgeous niece.  not the best photo if I'm honest but enjoying some quality auntie and niece time.

Have you visited fairytale farm? What did you think?

Happy springtime🐥🐏

Photo taken by Nanny Bicester

Springtime is here finally and there have been a few sunny days hooray!!!if I'm honest though it needs to get abit warmer so us nannies can rock out the sandals and shorts and just simply get paid to be in the sun all day.  Don't you hate us?
Time to get out and about if you haven't already with your little ones into the British countryside.  I plan to write a blog on the importance of outside play very soon.  Persil have started a campaign online "Dirt is good" so follow this link https://www.persil.co.uk/why-dirt-is-good/ which is backed by mum blogger Giovanna Fletcher who has done a vlog on her YouTube channel.  I suggest you check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9sWiLssHGo

Personal news;

The hoildays are still going and the oldest still has a week to go-help me!!! After that I will be going to Edinburgh for a few days with my mum and sister in law for some quality girlie time and some nice cocktails I'm sure.

Recently a few friends, one this weekend have given birth to beautiful and healthy baby girls which is so exciting lots of little girlies!! Wow starting to feel my age of nearly 30 now with many friends becoming parents and my calendar becoming full of children's birthdays. Congratulations to all of them(you know who you are).
I have also been to see my niece and nephew the previous couple of weekends and oh migod such cuties and I'm obviously not at all biased.  M is two and has become fiercly independent as they all are at this age and is able to give everybody the runaround.  Her language is expanding every single day and she has started to go to a childminders now so is also learning about the art of sharing. Good luck M!!
Now to my nephew J.  He is about to turn 6 months old and honestly cannot believe how he has changed so much since I last saw him at new year.  Physicaly he has grown loads and never stops smiling and is such a happy little boy to be around. I got lots of cuddles and had to bounce him up and down a lot which is hard to do now hes getting bigger.

Work news;

photo by Nanny Bicester

In my last blog I talked about some of the places I visited this holidays for the first time since then I have also been to Didcot Wave Pool in Oxfordshire with some friends from gymnastics.  Even I went down the water slide a couple of times, the things I do for my charges.  Although I have been known to enjoy a water slide or two when on holiday at a waterpark.  Next to the pool is a really good park and definitely had more to keep a 9yr old boy and 10yr old girl busy as I find that a lot of parks are no longer have challenging equipment for older children.

The kids also did a blind bake challenge which was a great idea in theory but the reality was not so much with one child having an absolute meltdown when the cake did not work out as it wouldn't cook properly.  As I was not allowed to see the process I have no idea what happened but when I tried to help it ended with me getting shouted at, called a cheat and then being sent to her room.  Other charge was trying to make a Swiss roll which turned out a little burnt bless him! 

Think that's all my news for now

Nanny Bicester xx
@nannybicester